Podcasting in English Class

In response to Robert Rozema's article, "The Book Report, Version 2.0: Podcasting on Young Adult Novels" , I wrote this critique of how pod-casting can be implemented in the English classroom:

Pod-casting in English Class

The article that I am critiquing is “The Book Report, Version 2.0: Pod-casting on Young Adult Novels” by Robert Rozema from the English Journal. This article focuses on an approach to incorporating technology into English classrooms. In this article, Rozema describes how using podcasts can be a useful tool for teachers in the English classroom as well as a learning tool for students. A podcast is “audio delivered over the Web in serialized episodes,” says Rozema. Pod-casting is becoming a new form of genre. Teachers are beginning to use podcasts as resources for new teaching ideas and techniques. Students are engaged with purposeful writing for podcasts because they have a real audience, not just their teacher, and are learning to work with their peers and revise their own work, which are important writing skills to learn. Rozema uses these podcasts because students lose interest with the typical book report. The use of these podcasts in the classroom can help teach many different writing techniques and literary elements, as well as become a creative outlet for students.

After reading Rozema’s article, I understand the methods behind producing a podcast and this brand new approach to the typical book report, most people think of. This new approach to book reports with the incorporation of technology can help strengthen students’ writing skills. I consider the most important aspects to this new approach to the book report are student engagement in the assignment and that they are learning about the production process of a podcast. These podcasts also call for specific type of writing and they are teaching important writing skills and literary techniques through creativity. The downfalls to using podcasts in the classroom are the lack of teacher training in this type of technology, and the amount of equipment and memory needed for a podcast production.

One of the main strengths of using a podcast in the classroom, rather than the typical book report is student engagement. From the students that I have interviewed in the past few months and even observed in a classroom setting, I noticed that there seems to be a lack of student interest in the subject of English, especially in high school. Rozema explains that the students are interested in writing podcasts because they have a real audience and students feel purpose behind their writing. These podcasts are unlike a typical book report because they have to come up with a script by themselves. This involves pacing, music, and the overall tone of the podcast. These podcasts are similar to movie trailers and the students are given the opportunity to use whatever music, pacing, and tone they wish to use, to describe the book. To further promote student interest in this project, Rozema says, “The podcast are also useful for future students who listen to them as they search for interesting books to read.” Students are working toward an ultimate goal as well. Rozema publishes the best podcasts at the end of the semester on iTunes to help make the audience seem more real. These podcasts are later used to help future students pick books to read, which makes the students making the podcasts want to do a better job.

Not only does this “Book Report 2.0” have appeal to the students, with its incorporation of technology and choice, but I think teachers can also use pod-casting as a very effective teaching tool as well. Students are learning how to collaborate with their peers, the process of revision, and even how to write scripts. The other writing elements and techniques that I think could be effectively taught through this assignment are ‘hooking your audience’, picking out key excerpts from the text, crediting not only the author of the text, but the song credits too, and even touch on important literary elements. The literary elements that can be tied into the podcast assignment are mood, perspective, form, and audience. All these elements are jam-packed into a five-minute podcast. Students are learning to effectively collaborate with one another, revise their work, hook their audience, cite their sources and do all of this without revealing too much information about their book. “Achieving all of this in four to five minutes presents a challenge of economy for students, who may work individually or collaboratively on the project,” says Rozema.

Although using the podcast seems ideal for the student and the teacher, I know that there are some obstacles to this type of assignment in addition to its strengths. The first hindrance I foresee in this assignment is the lack of teacher knowledge. I feel like teachers will be deterred from trying this assignment because of the technology involved. Teachers may be too unfamiliar with using iTunes and may not see the benefits to this assignment. Another hurdle is the school’s amount of memory in the computers. This type of assignment tends to use a lot of memory. Also, the amount of time that needs to go into the production of an assignment like this may also become a hindrance in itself. Because the English class has to cover so much material, there may not be sufficient time to do an assignment of this magnitude.

Overall, I really like Rozema’s idea of using technology to make podcasts instead of plain book reports. As a student, I would find this assignment appealing because of all the choices and opportunities for my creativity, as well as the opportunity of my work to be on iTunes. Being able to pick the music, quotes, and write exactly what I want to write about the book for a real audience seems like a fun project for a high school student. As a future teacher, I find this assignment extremely useful. It teaches important literary elements and ties in technology to a typically boring assignment, while stimulating my students’ creativity along the way.